The Song of the Universe
by RiverDoctorPotterSong
Summary: Josephine found a watch...Who is she really? My first attempt at an ongoing fic so please review
1. Chapter 1

Josephine was stressed out. Sure, she had business, but every day she spent cooped up inside working with tired old instruments made her lose a little more of her sanity. Don't get her wrong, she loved her job and was brilliant at it, but doing the same thing day in and day out wasn't really her style. And today's incident was just the last straw.

Josephine wasn't sure how Mrs. Johnson decided she knew how to do everything better than she, who went through years and years of training in order to do this job. But here she was, telling Josephine off about it.

"You said you would be done a week ago! I don't even think you actually know what you are doing! You don't expect me to actually pay you for this?"

At this Josephine bristled and started putting the parts back into the piano as fast as she could, trying not to break anything (which proved to be a struggle despite how long she'd been doing this) so Mrs. Johnson wouldn't have cause to sue her. "Okay, lady, first of all, I am a certified professional that went through an actual school for a year just to learn how to do this, not to mention all of the music and physics classes I've taken before that. I would have been done ahead of what I told you if you had actually had the brains to be quiet while I did my work, or if you hadn't cancelled half of the appointments you made with me, or even paid half of the price at the beginning like I asked you to. But, since you haven't paid me, haven't shut up or turned down the TV liked I asked you to, and decided that you needed to take that emergency vacation to Florida because you're SO stressed out, I don't feel at all guilty leaving your piano as it is and saying this: Goodbye and I'm dropping you as a customer."

Shoving her tools back into her pack, Josephine stormed out of the house and floored the gas pedal all the way home, thinking about what happened. What was she going to do now?

Music was always a part of Josephine's life. Her mother was a piano teacher and by the age of five Josephine had already been playing piano for some time. At age nine, Josephine started learning violin and quickly realized she was different from the other beginners. She just knew what the notes sounded like. She had no problem whatsoever picking up the instrument and playing something she'd only heard and not read after only a single time. She didn't need the teacher to tune her violin, she already knew if it was off-key.

She smiled at the memory of asking her mother "You mean you don't know what note that is? I thought everyone knew how to do that!" and looking at the surprise etched on her face.

From then on, it was like a switch in her brain flicked on and Josephine couldn't imagine her life without music, without her astonishing sense of hearing. She just knew she was meant to make music, even if she didn't have the confidence to actually become a solo performer. That was how she got into this business. She could "use her powers for the good of the people" when she became a piano technician. A small part of it was to satisfy Josephine's inner turmoil whenever she heard an out-of-tune instrument that nobody would attempt to make better, but another part was that she loved helping people experience the power of music.

Sighing, she got out of her car and went inside the house she lived in with her mother and sister.

"You're home early," her mother remarked, "Everything okay?"

Josephine harrumphed and shut herself in her room. This isn't what she had in mind when she chose this career. Desperate for something to take her mind off things, she began digging in her closet

for something to do. Pushing aside old abandoned cross-stitching and crochet projects that took a turn for the worse, she noticed a silver gleam at the bottom of the junk-filled box. It was a pocket watch. Hmm. She forgot that she even had a pocket watch, even though somewhere at the back of her mind, she recognized that she had it ever since she could remember. Wiping a bit of dust off of it, she looked at the mysterious circular symbols that were carved on the surface. She wondered if the clock actually worked; she couldn't hear any ticking, but some sort of swishy sound that almost sounded like speech.

Without knowing why, she grew nervous at the thought of opening the watch. Why should she be? It WAS hers, after all. Heart pounding, she took a deep breath and clicked the watch open.

The Doctor was on his own again. It had been excruciatingly difficult to leave his best mate with no memory of him as well as leave the girl he loved in a parallel universe with his double that had committed genocide in his first hour of life, and he had been in a depression ever since. He hadn't left the vortex in what was probably the equivalent of a week, not that he'd been counting. He just didn't have the motivation to do anything but sulk. The TARDIS did her best to console him and make sure he took care of his basic needs like eating and sleeping, but there's only so much a sentient ship that couldn't talk could do for him.

So the Doctor was in the state of consciousness that was less than awake and yet not asleep when sensors started beeping and alarms started going off.

Annoyed, the Doctor rose to his feet.

"So help me, if it's those time agents trying to prank call the TARDIS again I will seriously unleash the full wrath of the Oncoming Storm!" he hissed before reading the screens. The TARDIS was materializing and there was nothing he could do to stop it because he had programmed to do just that in the event that…

The Doctor gulped as he digested what he had just seen and sank down into the jump seat. Another Time Lord? Again? He wasn't ready to go through another Year that Never Was. But if this was the Master again, who else would be able to stop him?

Taking a deep breath, he stepped out into…the room of a young woman? Too many times had unfortunate TARDIS parking gotten him into unwanted trouble, and this was looking bad already. Especially when said young woman was passed out on the floor. The Doctor froze when he got a closer look. He knew this person glowing with yellow light. This Time Lord. Her name: The Tuner.


	2. Chapter 2

2.

While she was unconscious Josephine's memories mingled with unearthly ones, of landscapes filled with red grass and silver-leafed trees, of strange planets and creatures. The human part of her mind screamed in confusion and terror as the Time Lord part of her mind told her that yes, this was really she. The last memories of before she locked her consciousness into the pocket watch replayed themselves.

_**She knew that if she didn't escape now she would have no chance to survive. But where would she go? The High Council would track her down and make her fight. She had no choice; she had to do it. Ducking into a half-shattered TARDIS, she scanned the room and found what she was looking for…a Chameleon Arch. It was a huge risk; who knew how much damage it had received in the bombing? **_

_**Another explosion rocked the ground beneath her feet. She sucked in a breath and knew that it was either change and take a risk of being killed, or not change and almost certainly lose all of her lives that day. She remembered setting the coordinates to random before putting on the dreaded equipment. She briefly was aware of several alarms going off before the world went blank.**_

_To the people in the area of the explosion on Earth, it sounded like a car crash. But there was no debris from any kind of vehicle. A crater just suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, smoking slightly. And in the center of it all was a baby girl surrounded by rags of clothing. Around her neck was a pocket watch._

The Doctor tried to soothe the young woman's mind as she went through her mental battle. He knew it wasn't easy to stay calm in this situation. Gradually her mind calmed enough for her to wake up. But she quickly became alarmed when she saw the man leaning over her.

"Who are you?" she asked, sitting up a little too quickly. "Why are you here?"

"You know who I am. Last time I saw you I was telling you how brilliant humans are at making shoes that fit perfectly. You said that you doubted it, because you had yet to find any that fit you. And then the Cloister Bell started ringing and I had to be at the front line."

"Doctor?" she whispered.

"It's me. I regenerated. Twice since then."

"What happened?"

"I'm so sorry, Tuner. I'm really sorry. Nobody else made it," said the Doctor, tears in his eyes. "I…They made me…-"

"Shh…it's alright, Doctor. I saw the timelines just as you did. I knew there was always a possibility that it would happen."

At that moment Josephine's mom opened the bedroom door, her sister close behind.

"Jo, what's…how…who is that?"

The Tuner inwardly groaned. How was she going to explain this to the woman who had raised her for twenty years as well as her adopted sister, both who thought that she was just Josephine, a normal human being?

"Um, Mom, Jen, this is the Doctor…and I think you just may want to sit down for this," she explained. "You know how I'm adopted?..."

The woman who had called herself Josephine's mother for twenty years took the news rather well, but the Tuner could tell it was still hard for her.

"I always knew you were special, kiddo," she said after listening to the whole story. "Do you really have two hearts now?"

"Ah, here you go," the Doctor said, picking a stethoscope out of his dimensionally transcendental pocket and handing it to her. She accepted it and listened, still gasping with surprise at the double heartbeat and then starting to weep, along with her other daughter.

"I suppose that means you won't call me Mom anymore," she sighed.

"Don't say that, Mom! You ARE my mother. You were there for me all this time. I am still your Josephine." The Tuner turned to Jen. "You are still my sister. We still are the best of friends and I still will annoy the hell out of you when I'm bored. Just promise not to dissect me, okay?"

At this Jen laughed, because she was training to be a doctor herself and always was talking about her latest anatomy labs and how much she enjoyed using a scalpel.

The Tuner continued. "I love you both. And that is why this is going to be hard…I…I am going to have to go away with the Doctor. I will visit as much as I possibly can, but now that I'm fully Time Lord again, trouble will come looking for me, just like it has for the Doctor, and I can't put you two constantly at risk because of me."

The three hugged each other tightly and Josephine's mom and sister went to their own rooms to process it all before the big goodbye.

The Tuner wiped away tears and began packing. She packed clothes, mostly, because all of the paraphernalia she had accumulated from a lifetime on Earth seemed silly to her now. Still, she lingered because she dreaded leaving what had been her home for a long time, with people she had come to love as family.

Quite too soon the Tuner and the Doctor had to say goodbye to Earth. The Tuner rushed through her goodbyes before she could start uncontrollably bawling, and the two Gallifreyans departed into the vortex.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

"You've redecorated again, I see," the Tuner told the Doctor. "I like it. It's different…in a good way."

The Tuner didn't say anything about how she could feel the TARDIS's joy at the presence of another Time Lord. But she also had a renewed grief about losing her own TARDIS, which the Doctor's TARDIS acknowledged with a mental hug.

"Well, you know what happened to me, Theta, so now I want to hear about what you've been up to all this time," the Tuner prodded.

"You know what, I think I'll take the shortcut on this one, if you don't mind," the Doctor replied. He took her hands and placed them on his temples and the Tuner had to make very little effort to look into his mind. There was a blood-red door that she knew contained his memories of the Time War and decided she didn't want to open it just yet, or if she ever wanted to. The next door had a wrought-iron 9 on it.

_The TARDIS was regenerating after the Doctor changed into his ninth body. Metal grating materialized out of the floor as coral struts pushed their way up to the ceiling. The console shot out sparks and old controls were swallowed up as new ones made their first appearance. The Doctor was in mourning; Gallifrey was gone. Nauseated at the sight of his former incarnation's choice of clothing, he eventually found the wardrobe and found the set of clothes that fit the mood he was in: A black, weathered leather jacket, black jeans, a plain dark jumper, and combat boots. He had been particularly drawn to the jacket because it looked as beaten up as he felt._

_Time went faster from then on. The Doctor, now on his own, went from place to place, trying to save people or ensure fixed events would happen the way they intended in an almost reckless way. There he was, saving a family from going on the Titanic, washing up on a shore after the eruption at Krakatoa, standing in the crowd the day President Kennedy got shot. But then there was a change in mood when that girl saved his life from the Nestene Consciousness._

_The Tuner felt the way the Doctor grew to love his pink-and-yellow companion. How he became able to trust another person again. How humbled he felt by the girl who became Bad Wolf in order to give him a chance to live. The absolute love he put into that kiss that sent him to his regeneration. The satisfaction of living another good life and being able to share a small part of it with someone._

The Tuner opened the next door, which had a gold 10 on it.

_Rose had been confused and distraught when this incarnation began, which made the Doctor's hearts break a little. But then, as she quickly came to accept this new version of him, the more and more he felt like he was literally made to be with her. This was coupled with the inner torment that he never could spend all of his remaining time with her. And his regret not to tell her exactly how he felt about her, multiplied by his overwhelming sense of loss when she was taken into the parallel world, was immense. _

_The following memories were about the introduction to Donna and then meeting the brilliant Martha Jones. The adventures they had, the appreciation for her actions while he himself had undergone the effects of the chameleon arch, the guilt at causing Joan Redfern so much heartache. The marvel at Martha's determination to go through the Year that Never Was, the Master's death, the sense of loss again when Martha said goodbye, the cautiousness as well as happiness that Donna found him again._

_ The best friendship with Donna. Her strength and compassion. The breaking of his hearts when he had to take her memories away. _

_ The 'birth' of Jenny and the almost immediate, painful loss._

_ The Library and meeting River Song, who knew the Doctor's name and sacrificed her life for him._

_ The Metacrisis and the genocide of the Daleks. Giving Rose the Metacrisis, knowing that it was the best thing he could ever do for her, even though it opened old wounds about leaving her behind. _

_ The deep depression following the events at the Crucible._

The Tuner automatically sympathized with the Doctor. After getting some resemblance of a family back, he had it all taken away again because he thought that was the way it had to be. She had to help her childhood friend to heal. Still connected to the Doctor's mind, she sent a mental embrace to him and then disconnected.

"I'm sorry for what you had to go through, Theta. I promise you, I will be here, as a friend. It'll be like the old times when we were getting into all sorts of trouble at the Academy" the Tuner told him, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Okay, _Josephine_. After all, trouble is what we do best. I do think it's rather amazing that you managed to keep your Academy nickname when you transformed yourself into a human and since you keep using mine, I think I'll do the same to you."

The Tuner giggled and they both started setting the TARDIS controls, not caring where they ended up.

But it just so happens that they ended up in a city called Darillium.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

The Doctor, of course, conveniently forgot to look at his scanners. So he had a rare moment of surprise that was reserved usually for inexperienced time travelers or old people returning to their hometown after a long time away: He felt like he knew this place, but that something was just…wrong…about it. The shock of this made him stand stark still. He just couldn't figure out what _it_ was, and that made him anxious to find out. He hoped to Rassilon he didn't just end up in a parallel universe again.

"Josephine!" he called. She had already disappeared into the busy street. Sighing, he took off in the direction he hoped the Tuner had gone.

As usual with his companions, he didn't have to look far. He let out a groan when he saw the Tuner being dragged away by uniformed guards, a crowd watching with wide eyes. Why did this always happen?

This wasn't fair. All she had done was ask where she was and why people looked so worried. And maybe she might have attempted to flirt with one of the guards. But one thing was for sure: The Tuner wasn't going without a fight. She bit, she kicked, she scratched, and thrashed around, but as soon as one guard got hurt, another took his place. She eventually gave up her struggle and decided to scan her surroundings. Very plain and weathered metal buildings surrounded her, and she was reminded of an army camp. Yet there were people of all ages going on about their business. Weary children and adults alike gave her a quick glance before going back to their routines. It was too quiet for a bustling town.

The Doctor stood in the shadows as he looked around. A glimpse of a store sign told him that this place was Darillium, but that didn't make sense. This place was among the most peaceful places in the universe, but here it was, functioning as a police state. Berating himself for not doing it sooner, he squinted at the time on his wristwatch and had to do a double-take. He had come here during the birth of the one and only war that ever happened on this planet. Just his luck.

He'd been here before, about three hundred years in the future, and there had been absolutely no resemblance between that happy and peaceful place and the one he saw before him. This wasn't right. And he had to make sure that the future events with River Song could take place at the Singing Towers that at present did not exist and probably never would if things kept going this way…he owed that woman who had sacrificed herself for him that much.

"What is going ON here?" he whispered to himself. Little did he know that someone else had heard.

An official-looking man sat opposite the Tuner at a wooden table.

"We know you are the enemy," he sneered.

"Hold on, why would you think that? I never said anything against you! I don't even know who you are!"

"Silence!" the man roared. "Everyone knows it is against the Supreme Law to ask questions, especially when they are directed to the Supreme Officers!"

"But WHY?" the Tuner asked, wincing at the fact that she had just broken the law again.

"People who ask questions are always the ones that prove themselves to be against the Supreme Council. They doubt its authority. They refuse to stay in their places!" the man spat.

"It's no wonder that people are questioning the Supreme Council's authority! People have a right to know what is going on and you refuse to even let them ask about it!" the Tuner retorted.

A blow to the back of her head made her world fade to black.

The Doctor was tapped on the shoulder by a man in dark clothing. A hood obscured his face, but seeing as the man tapped rather than injured him, he decided he would follow the man, who, putting a finger up to his lips to silence any potential talking, motioned for the Doctor to come down a narrow lane behind him.

As fit as the Doctor was from running from angry aliens all the time, he had trouble keeping up with the nimble figure in black. The path twisted and turned until even the Doctor had trouble sensing what direction they had come from. Finally, they arrived at a literal hole in the wall in an abandoned warehouse. The man went across the room and moved aside a floorboard, revealing an underground tunnel, leading to a room filled with talking people. Once they saw the Doctor and the other man enter they immediately became quiet.

"It's alright. He's one of us. He asked a question. Nobody else would have the guts to do that."

"Why? Why does nobody ask questions?" the Doctor inquired.

"It's the law," the man answered. "My name's Tancred, by the way. The Supreme Council started that rule about a year ago, when people started rebelling against their corruption."

"But it's literally impossible to have everyone not ask questions! Every sentient being is born to ask them, children especially!" the Doctor shouted. "What happens if you ask a question and get caught?"

"We never see you again. Even children. Nobody's sure exactly what they do with you, and since they can't ask, we just assume you are killed and the only thing we can do is not to make the same mistake."

"But my friend has just been arrested! I can only assume it's for that, and I will NOT let her die because of that. I will not abandon her again!"

"I'm glad to hear you say that…"

"Doctor"

"Doctor, and that is why I brought you here. We are the ones who are fed up with this. And we are going to start a revolution."

"Who are you, anyway?" the Doctor queried.

"We are the Voice."


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Hi guys! I know it's been way too long, but writer's block sucks. Thanks for the favorites and alerts and I would love to read some reviews or suggestions! And here we go! A new chapter that may help you learn a little bit more about Josephine's past!_

5.

The Tuner woke up in a grimy cell yet again. And she hadn't even been Time Lord for twenty-four hours. Ahh…good old times-not. If they hadn't taken her sonic screwdriver away she would have been out of there ten seconds from the moment she regained consciousness. Oh well. At least she wasn't in chains. She could sense the Doctor's consciousness a few miles away and knew he hadn't been captured. That was good, at least. And if she knew anything about the Doctor, she knew that he would try anything to make sure she escaped. Knowing that there was nothing she could do right now besides get into more trouble, she decided to close her eyes again and take a stroll down memory lane, something she hadn't done in twenty years.

_They were best buddies: Theta, Koschei, and Josephine. Ever since they were eight years old, the three had been inseparable. They were seen as outcasts by the other Gallifreyans. People always teased them- about how Theta had his head in the clouds, and how Koschei was insane because he heard drums that didn't exist, and how Josephine_ _said she could hear the universe singing. But they always had each other. They all dreamed of the day when they could leave Gallifrey behind and explore the universe. And they agreed to do it all together. _

_Theta's main objective was to learn how life was lived on other planets. Koschei just wanted to get away from his tormenters at the Academy. Josephine wanted to simply take in everything she could about the universe. And they wanted to prove that it's okay to do more than watch time go by._

_ Josephine spent most of her time at the Academy experimenting with sonic energy in her spare time. She eventually developed an energy source for Gallifrey that harnessed the musical frequencies created by the planet itself, which helped her earn recognition from the High Council. She and Koschei used their innate talent for sensing musical beats to develop an even bigger system for the whole of the Kasterborous constellation while Theta learned all he could about other planets. _

_ It was during this time that Koschei and Josephine grew even closer. It seemed like they understood each other perfectly: They both knew what it was like to hear things even if nobody else did. Theta, even though he remained very close to his friends all the time, didn't even know how it was to feel that. Koschei and Josephine were the closest sweethearts on Gallifrey because of this shared understanding. The High Council thought it scandalous. Time Lords didn't usually display that kind of closeness._

_ But the day Theta stole the TARDIS was when it all really began. Actually, it was their graduation day from the Academy. They had just chosen their official titles- The Doctor, the Master, and The Tuner-but at the time they had no intention of using them except for special occasions. The reception was in a museum full of various artifacts pertaining to the Time Lords and their history, and the minute that nobody was watching, Theta ran into the nearest TARDIS, which, curiously enough, was open, and dragged Josephine and Koschei with him._

_ And they had so many adventures. Everywhere they went, Josephine and Koschei listened to the internal music of the planets and stored recordings of it, hoping to hear the whole universe's harmonies put together one day. They even taught Theta how to listen for it. But as time went on, Koschei began to act strangely. He'd hide out in his room in the TARDIS, refusing to come out for days at a time. He claimed he was just tired of running about, but more than once Josephine would see him out of the corner of her eye exchanging jealous glances when she joked around with Theta as friends do. Of course, they didn't think it was anything serious at first._

_ Then one day Koschei thought it would be fun to go to less advanced planets and get the natives to treat them like royalty, or even gods. Thinking it would be fun, Josephine and Theta went along with it, but quickly realized that Koschei wanted to take it too far and enslave an entire planet. When Theta told Koschei enough was enough, with Josephine seconding the idea, he refused._

_ "Oh, I get it, Josephine. You WOULD agree with Theta. I've seen the way you are together!"_

_ "What? Koschei, it's not like that! Theta and I always have been and always will be just good friends! I love YOU, Koschei! I thought you knew that! Am I not allowed to talk to anyone else? I thought you trusted me!"_

_ "Well everybody makes mistakes," Koschei hissed. Not even ten minutes later he was out of the TARDIS for good. The next time they heard of him, he had totally thrown away Koschei and completely embraced his title of the Master. He had become criminally insane._

_ Josephine lost her will to travel with Theta after that. Even though she didn't blame him in the least for Koschei leaving, staying in that TARDIS brought back those painful memories again and again. So she got her own TARDIS (this time legitimately) and continued her work on the finding the universe's music. She spent four lives doing that all by herself, except for the regular visits with Theta, until she got called back home again by the mandatory call to arms at the beginning of the last Time War._

The Tuner sighed. It was still painful to think about, even more so now that she knew the Master was never coming back. Dwelling on the past definitely wasn't making her optimistic right now, so she decided that she would sleep. You never knew in these situations when you were going to be able to get the chance to rest, and she knew from experience that it was best to take advantage of when you could.


	6. Chapter 6

_Hi everyone! Yikes, has it been 4 months already? Oops. Thanks to Exact Estimate for giving me some motivation to keep writing. As always, reviews are welcome._

6.

By the next morning the Doctor and his new friends were ready to set their plan (now improved by the inclusion of the Doctor) into motion. Although it was a small group compared to the entire population in the planning room with them, Tancred told the Doctor that even the people who seemed distant to the problem out in public were very much part of the Voice.

The plan was relatively simple. It was a known fact that the last place any "questioners" were seen was the Supreme Law Building. Had it been more appropriate, the Doctor would have remarked how uncreative and redundant the government on this planet was. Everything had the title "Supreme." He briefly if they had Supreme Burritos like the ones Taco Bell sold on Earth. Getting back to the point, the Doctor would make his way to the Supreme Burrito Building (that was what he called it in his mind, anyway) and set off the town's security alarms with his sonic. Then he would do what he did best: an awful lot of running. If all went according to plan, he would sneak away to find if the "questioners" were still alive and if they were to break them out. If he got caught himself, he assured Tancred that he was very very adept at opening doors and would still find a way to break the others out.

Tancred and the rest of the Voice, which included most able-bodied townspeople, would try and take out the Supreme Officers and eventually the Supreme Council. Tancred assured the Doctor that they would not use weapons designed to kill but to stun. These stunners were easy to stockpile over months of planning because people could say that they were using them in case of danger as tools of self-defense. Almost every building had at least one, including private homes of even the poorest citizens. Before the Doctor arrived, there was no possible way of using them against the Supreme Officers and Supreme Council because of special devices in their uniforms that would extinguish the stunners' power. But now that the Doctor was there, while he was in the Law Building, he could disable the devices by destroying their power source. And, being smuggled from some nearby but more technologically advanced planet, once the power source of the stunners was gone, they would not have another or even be able to rebuild one.

The Tuner awoke to the sounds of another prisoner being dragged down the hallway. The prisoner's wails of utter hopelessness tore at her heartstrings. A few minutes later there was another inmate sobbing loudly as they shuffled down the corridor. But she told herself to keep listening. She needed to know where the poor victim was being taken. Her excellent sense of hearing could pinpoint exactly where they were going, and they seemed to be escorted to the same place. She knew that as soon as she got out of this rotten cell, she would let all of the others free.


	7. Chapter 7

7.

Not very long after The Tuner heard the prisoners being taken, she felt the Doctor's mind approaching closer, near enough to project her thoughts to him.

_**Theta!**_

_Josephine! We have a plan to get you out!_

_**We?**_

_Oh, yeah, I made some friends._

_**While I was locked up in here?**_

_They prevented me from getting into the same trouble as you did, so don't be so quick to judge!_

_**So what's the plan?**_

_Did you notice how the officers all have the same uniform and weapons?_

_**Yes…**_

_They're connected. If you're wearing one of those suits, the stunners won't hurt you. I'm going to break the system that makes the suits invincible so the stunners actually work on the officers._

_**And how are you going to do that? You're going to just waltz in and mess with the main controls of the machine that keeps a whole government running?**_

_Well, yeah._

The Tuner rolled her eyes.

_**When is this happening then?**_

_Oh, right about now._

Luckily, the Doctor had a perception filter that made him look like he was wearing an officer's suit. He had found it in some dusty old box underneath the grating of the console room. It had seen better days, but he had gotten it to work eventually. So it was relatively easy entering the Supreme Burrito Building. It had to be, because even the Supreme Officers couldn't ask questions, which was really counterproductive if you asked the Doctor. Just showing the psychic paper was proof enough to let him through. The Voice was strategically placed around the main plaza right outside the building. Tancred spoke into a walkie-talkie that came through to an earpiece the Doctor was wearing: "Let us know when you've destroyed it."

It wasn't hard to find the power source. The Doctor was glad that Josephine helped him hone his listening skills all those years ago. The buzz of the generators was coming from a very precise direction. The problem came when the perception filter gave out.

The Supreme Council wasn't so stupid as to leave the machine unguarded, so the Officers that stood sentry automatically saw that the Doctor was not one of them. The Doctor's Time Lord reflexes gave him just enough time to sonic the crystal-like power source before the guards got to him. There were more than a few sparks. As the Officers grabbed the Doctor he shouted "Tancred, Now!"

The Tuner could tell the Doctor was in distress when she heard two bodies thump to the ground outside her cell door. She raced to the door and saw a mob of people with white gun-type things shooting down every Officer with purple volts while one was currently opening said door with a card key.

"Hi. The name's Tancred. You must be the Tuner. The Doctor told me about you." The man with the key said.

"Yeah, that's me. But we need to find the Doctor. I can tell he's been caught," Josephine replied.

The worry didn't last long, because at that moment, the two Officers with the Doctor in tow just happened to decide to come down that exact hallway. In a matter of milliseconds they sank to the floor, stunned. The Tuner ran to embrace the Doctor.

"Right. Now to find the others," the Doctor said as he gathered himself and picked up a stunner.

"I heard some people being taken that way," the Tuner pointed with her own recently acquired stunner.

They quickly set off in that direction, but were alarmed to see that there was nobody in the large cell block that they found.

"I, I was SURE that they were taken here, Theta" The Tuner stammered. Her hearing never ever failed her before.

"I believe you, Josephine," the Doctor replied. He gave a sigh and looked up at her with his large doleful eyes. "We were too late."

"Shh. Wait. I think I hear something," Josephine whispered. Without warning, she began sprinting down the long corridor. At the end of the corridor was a metal door which the Doctor sonicked open while trying to catch up. A staircase led them down underground into a damp brick basement corridor.

By this time the Doctor finally heard what the Tuner had heard. They opened another door to find the source: hundreds of children humming a tune of captivity and mourning, of loss of innocence that could never be put to words, not unlike the Ood's Song of Captivity. There were no adults.

The Doctor reached into his pocket and fished out Josephine's fob watch and handed it to her.


	8. Chapter 8

_Thank you for everyone who has reviewed and followed _

8.

_The Doctor reached into his pocket and fished out Josephine's fob watch and handed it to her._

The Tuner nodded as she took the piece of not-just-clockwork. The circular writing on it wasn't just for decoration. Anytime a fob watch was given to a Time Lord, it was very much personalized, with many functions that would be useful only to the person who owned it. So the Tuner knew exactly what button to push.

A swirl of gold light was emitted from the watch, amplifying and taking in the children's song as it swept around the dark room, filling all of its occupants with wide-eyed wonder and slowly placating their sorrow until the song gradually ended. The Tuner closed the watch. "It's still recording," she asserted when the Doctor gave her a confused look.

"Wha…What was that?" asked a malnourished boy with extremely curly hair, who braced himself for a blow that would never come. He had asked a question, and now every other child's eyes were on him, and they too were scared for their own safety.

"It's okay," the Doctor cooed, kneeling down to the child's level and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Nobody is going to hurt you. There are people up there," he pointed up towards the surface, "That are going to put the ones who did this to you in jail. We're here to get you out and make sure this never happens again." Initially, the boy flinched from the contact, but, looking into the Doctor's honest, experienced eyes, he relaxed.

"They took my mum and dad," the boy whimpered. "I heard them screaming and screaming and then they stopped. I never saw them again."

"They took my parents too!" cried another. Several others did as well.

"B-but H-How is that watch going to help?" a little girl asked.

"My watch hears everything I hear exactly as I hear it, and now, everyone else will be able to also," replied the Tuner. "Everybody will listen to the song you were singing. Music never lies. People will know what you had to go through, and they will never forget."

At this moment Tancred's voice came through the Doctor's earpiece. "Doctor! Doctor! We've stunned them all! Have you found any of the missing?"

The Doctor took a deep breath. "Children. No adults."

After a pause Tancred began "Do you mean they are somewhere else or-"

"They're gone, Tank."

Another pause and possibly a sob. "Very well. A crew should be down to help in about two minutes."

The members of the Supreme Council were found guilty by the Shadow Proclamation on several counts of murder, torture, many more crimes too numerous to count, due to the evidence the Tuner had collected. All were sent to a prison planet on the very edge of the galaxy to serve life sentences. Tancred, as the head member of the Voice, was declared the new leader of Darillium.

As his first decree, Tancred commissioned a memorial to be built for the victims of the tyranny that once was.

The Doctor stayed long enough for the trials and had been antsy to leave for some time; however, the Tuner felt it her duty to stay and help build the memorial.

"You do this every time, Theta, leaving when all the excitement is over," the Tuner said with a sad smile. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep him on this planet, because of this horrible event, along with what they know will happen here with River Song.

The Doctor didn't know what to say to that, because, well, it was true. "You mean you're staying here," he stated. The Tuner nodded slowly, not meeting his eyes.

"I've got to help, Theta. They have to start all over."

"I know, Josephine. You were always good at fixing things," the Doctor replied, giving back the same smile.

"Why did you think to grab the watch?" asked the Tuner.

"There's more than what you just recorded inside it," he answered. He reached into one of his pockets. "Here." The Doctor handed her a vortex manipulator and a chunk of TARDIS coral. "I think you know what to do with these," he smirked.

They embraced and the Doctor walked back to the TARDIS. He was certain they would meet again. After one last wave, he shut the door and then the familiar sound of engines filled the air.


	9. Chapter 9

_I can't thank all of you enough for your support in writing this first attempt of hopefully many more pieces of creative writing. I would be willing to write a sequel, but only if you guys tell me you want one in a review…_

Epilogue

The Tuner was a critical helper in the construction of the Memorial to the Lost. Her vortex manipulator was, along with her sonic screwdriver that she had retrieved from the building in which she had been captive, allowed the construction team to find all the supplies that otherwise would have been nearly impossible to get, on or off-planet. And, while she wasn't working on the memorial and helping to organize the new government, she used the same gadgets to acquire supplies that accelerated the growth of her TARDIS coral.

The process took almost an Earth year, at the end of which her TARDIS was ready to travel and the Tuner could feel its anticipation in her mind. But where would she go and what would she do? Would she still spend her time doing what she did in her previous lives, living a lonely existence accompanied only by the music that for the most part only she could hear? Something inside her had changed from before she had used the chameleon arch. She wanted to travel the stars again, no doubt, but this time, she would do something different. And she wasn't sure what that was at this moment, but she knew that she was done merely recording the Music of the Spheres and instead looking to be a part of it.

Originally, the memorial was supposed to just be made out of a special kind of glass that was mined deep in Darillium's core (Darillium was both the name of the city and the planet-which made the Tuner roll her eyes at the creativity of the people who had founded it once again). But, one day, as the Tuner recorded the merry buzzing of people at work on the finishing touches of the towers with her watch, as was her habit, she noticed that the glass, which looked sort of opal-esque, hummed along with the sounds of the people and objects around it…and what else…oh yes…the planet itself.

She retrieved her comm. "Tank, I've got an idea."

-DW-DW-

The Unveiling of the Memorial to the Lost was the biggest event in that planetary system's history. Dignitaries from across the galaxy came to watch. Bright orange tarpaulins, which contrasted with the violet-colored sky, covered the massive structures. From a raised platform, Tancred, standing next to the Tuner, spoke to the massive crowd.

"The day has finally come where we can pay tribute to those we lost in the darkest times of our planet's history. But we are also privileged to honor those who assisted in bringing it to an end. This woman beside me, known as the Tuner, is one without whom we could have never achieved such a deed. Without her help, we would still be in the shackles of a corrupt police state. Her evidence alone made sure that the ones responsible were held accountable for their terrible deeds. She has put every effort into making sure that we, whether we be of this planet or of another, remember what came to pass here, so that it shall never happen again." He motioned for her to speak.

"If you could uncover the towers please," bade the Tuner. A collective gasp emanated from the audience as the orange cloth fell. "It is not unusual for a memorial to be visual representation of remembrance. But, I felt that it should be even more- For you can never truly understand what this monument was made for unless you experienced some part of it for yourself."

She pressed a button on her fob watch. The familiar golden light emitted the song that led her to the lost children and reverberated through the three glittering towers. The effect was instantaneous on the crowd. From pure excitement the mood changed to utter grief. Wails were heard all around.

The Tuner spoke again. "Just as we remember this dark part of the planet's history, we can move on. We know that the universe constantly changes. There is good and bad, joy as well as sorrow, peace as well as war. Without one, we would not have the other. So, without further ado, I give my final gift to the ones we lost: the Music of the Spheres."

The Tuner pushed another button that she had not noticed when she first discovered her watch a year before. Only after the Doctor had given his cryptic clue when he left had she realized what it was.

-DW-DW-DW-

_When the Doctor saw the Tuner disappear from the broken chameleon circuit his already heartbreaking grief over his home doubled. On the ground was the smoking remains of the Tuner's recording device. She never went anywhere without it. Blinking through hot tears, he grabbed it and swore to keep it in honor of her memory if he could get out of this alive._

_ The Doctor was looking for the perception filter under the grating of the TARDIS floor so he could rescue Josephine from the Darillian officers when he came across the partially molten metal machine. In an instant he grabbed it and streamed all of the data into Josephine's watch, which had been left on the center console._

-DW-DW-DW-

An even brighter light erupted from the watch and made the towers start to sing with all of the energy of the universe. Its beauty immediately soothed the crowd, turning mourning into pure joy of life and all that came with it.

People stayed far longer than they had anticipated to just relax and listen to the singing. It was certainly something they would never forget.

Just as the Tuner was about to descend the stairs of the platform, she heard the unmistakable noise of a blue box dematerializing.

"Are you sure you can't stay any longer?" asked Tancred.

"I'll come back once in a while to see how things are going, but I'm a Time Lord. It's in my genes to travel. And now that people know what I am, they'll come looking for me and cause trouble. I won't let that danger come to this planet," the Tuner responded. "And plus, I have a friend to catch up with."

At the bottom of the stairs was what appeared to be a grand piano- 'appeared' being the key word. A snap of the Tuner's fingers compelled the lid to open, revealing a ladder that descended into a brightly lit room humming with Artron energy.

"Okay, let's see what we've got this time," she whispered as she climbed down.

THE END?


End file.
